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Justine Louisy Jul 2020
Mummy used to buy me hair grease,
for my hair was a seismic wave of crease.
The scalp crying sweat,
the tantrums were the onset.

Wide tooth comb have mercy on the nots,
nests of lies and cheeky clots.
The flurries of dandruff deposit,
the skeletons in the closet.

Mummy brought out the blue magic,
the long strands thirsty to become ethic.
Such a wave of moisture,
like the silkiness of an oyster.

A perfect layer of braided Cornrows,
blended amongst the tropical mangoes.

Mummy says to me you’re a woman now,
be prepared and ready to plough,
the knotty hairs of your little ones.

Go and buy the same hair grease,
to ensure their naughty traits mature into peace.

Justine Louisy

Copyright ©Justine Louisy 2016
All Rights Reserved
So... I’ve mentioned about braids but now let’s talk about the preparation of Afro hair and the goodness of hair grease (metaphorically speaking 😁😅) enjoy!!
Dark n Beautiful Sep 2015
I try to remember the kind of September
When life was slow and oh so mellow*
I try to remember the kind of September
When I wore my navy blue skirt
with white bottom down top,
with glistening extension cornrows
so tight like dreadlocks.

I try to remember the kind of September
When I was young and carefree and no responsibilities
Now it’s September those after school activities.
Oh shiver me timbers to all the bus drivers
Welcome to another school year with tears
Kay-Ann  May 2014
colors
Kay-Ann May 2014
Sometimes I feel uncomfortable in my own skin
It's like this chocolate shell is slowly killing me from within
Sometimes I think about taking up that cream and bleaching my skin
But it's only gonna lighten my complexion while the light inside me is still dim
Sometimes I wonder why I get left behind just because I'm not light
I mean we're from the same race, aren't we supposed to unite?
sometimes I think something is wrong with me because I'm not light
I guess the lighter girls at school feel sorry for me which is why they act so contrite
People pick up the book entitled me and they see a dark-skinned girl who is free
And they just put it down because they can't bother to read
But I don't want someone who worries about the knots in my hair and the cornrows
I want someone who's not afraid to run their fingers in the knots of my soul
So why can't you love me for my big lips and round brown eyes
And my wide hips and shapely thighs
Why cant you see that I'm beautiful, I'm confused
Don't you know that I reflect you in all my hues
Brown, caramel, black and all that's in between
We're all just the same if you know what I mean.
Jeanie  Sep 2017
90% it's benign
Jeanie Sep 2017
Lumpy, bumpy, feeling rather jumpy.

Nodule? Cyst? What have I missed?
Kindness pouring from soothing eyes - ladies in purple who have seen it all, beckoning sirens though to the hall.
Consultant - God, Guru, Man, Father, Lover, Philanderer, Tooth Fairy, Assassin
He checks like a 15 year old boy, passionless, conscientious, circling
Is this ok?

Lump - Yes. Bump - Yes. Am I  going to jump? - Yes

Off to see the coolest man in the hospital - the Ultrasound guy

But first back to sit in cornrows with the ladies who coyly all dressed like me.

Russian roulette - someone will be upset.

Mamm-o-gram - scans your ***** like ham.

Kindness of the operator who's careers advisor could never have predicted this.

And then up and off to be seen by James Dean
James Dean with a wand and gel and a screen
And a squint then a glint  - it might just be ok....?

90% its benign - oh mine the benign, fine, tine-y lump

But we had better double check.... with this massive needle
Please Mrs D please don't wheedle

Eyes shut tight anaesthetic mirroring a mastectomy....is it still there?

Then back to see my crew
Of ladies old and not so, a sea of tight smiles and frightened eyes
90% it's benign
90% it's benign
90% it's benign
Davina E Solomon Mar 2021
Cornrows forge a rhythm to the sun
and self love feels like a line dance.
A shake of tassels and silks that
unfurl in the nick of time.

Love flowers on a stalk, above, below.
The wind sweeps in an airy betrothal,
a surge and then a sway, sashay,
a whirl in the nick of time.

Pollen, sparkles, pixel burst.
How do the ears of corn know,
to listen to the wind holler,
to twirl in the nick of time.

In a Caryopsis, a synopsis
of self seducing passions,
crushed to cornmeal. Floury
swirl in the nick of time.
The inspiration for this poem lay in a snippet of poetry that the wonderful actor, the late Irrfan Khan voices to a pomegranate plant in the movie Karwaan (Hindi). He say this to the sapling of Anarkali (pomegranate bud):

“They buried me alive thinking I’ll perish,
but they didn’t realise, that I’m a seed and in my burial, lay my redemption. My dear pomegranate bud, don’t be in a hurry to bloom and fruit. You will be taken to an expansive space where you can grow and flourish.”

The delicate instruction got me to think about seeds, progenitors of the future, buried and redeemed when they germinate. There are so many ways to create a seed. Love in the plant kingdom, if it can be called that, is as diverse as the plants that make up the flora of the world.

Today’s post is about corn rows in a field. Corn is a wind pollinated plant (male and female flowers occur on the same stalk and corn can self pollinate too). It would be interesting to note that the time of synchronous maturation of flowers on the stalk is termed colloquially, a nick. Tassels, silks, ears are all parts of corn flowers and Caryopsis, the fruit of the corn arranged on the cob, is a fruit body found in other varieties of grasses as well. So much for the botanical lesson for now.

On a separate note, it seems like ages when my mother braided my (then short) hair in cornrows which was unusual for my school days. It’s time consuming to braid hair thus, especially when extensions are involved (like I first saw people in Dar es Salaam wear them) hours of labour involved, but a wonderful way to wear hair nevertheless.

It was also in Dar that I danced a Kenyan style line dance that is a form of synchronized dancing where each person moves separately to rhythm. Do check the South African anthem Jerusalema that was put to this unbeatable step (to go viral online), by the Angolan dance troupe, Fenomenos de Semba (and if dancing with a plate of food is your kind of thing). The idea behind Line dancing is that it begets coexistence. I would like to imagine a kind of ‘Convivencia’, which resonates with the theme of corn love or a communal love dancing in a corn field, so to speak. (Although, Convivencia is used to denote the complex interplay of social, cultural and religious practices). We are still the same species despite the differences , like corn in a field.

Thank you for reading.
Doll Spaghetti Aug 2015
feeling it
cornrows blasted by tulmoultous dust storms engulfing the plains
gunshot wounds to the hand
a teenager and his dad's cockfight
building split by the demolition team

can't really put it into words

my enveloping ambitions kick the family chair away from this hanged man's goal

i'll change

and finally I will be strong
winter sakuras Apr 2017
Her hair, was two, silky, raven black cornrows
flowing down her slender back,
in her eyes, you could find
two whole blue corn moons, and a grinning bob cat of stars
twinkling in the blanket of night sky,
a trembling reflection on the sleepy, shimmering lake,
her skin was copper and
cinnamon flavored, rich and aglow with delicate paint markings
perfect, round droplets of blue and red ink,
a flora, fauna princess with
a crown of blossoming flowers garnishing her jeweled head,
and the majestic, flowing cloak
of a rampant bear wrapped around her shoulders,
her cool, adventurous feet, would walk to the ends of the earth
leaving a trail of lightly treading,
small footprints among the larger ones,
for she cupped up handfuls of the rich, dark soil,
marveled
at the shine of a cherry, red sun,
sang with all the voices
of the mountains,
painted with
all the colors of the wind,
and never thought to ask for more,
she threw herself over his worn, rugged self
and asked for his life to be spared,
blinking down crystalline tears, swiveling in a fresh, pure,
soft, innocence that brought mankind to bay,
and then she reached up
and harvested her ripe fruits,
to nourish his kind.
Pocahontas, "laughing and joyous one,"
Matoaka, "flower between two streams,"

You were the beautiful, laughing flower between the two, different, gushing streams of life.
Blue jean hitchhikers , sweet cornrows
Wild Plum groves off Roseberry Road
Knee high grassland , matted trails home
to dusty , dog day Farms* ...
Copyright August 20 , 2016 by Randolph L Wilson * All Rights Reserved

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